


Remember Me

by one_nation



Category: USWNT - Fandom
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-04-30 19:26:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5176892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/one_nation/pseuds/one_nation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Apocalypse on earth. Some individual from the government kidnaps the loved ones of the USWNT, as well as many others. The loved ones forget everything about their past lives and the team tries to survive zombies and gangs and other cruel additions to the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning of the End

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so we got the USWNT as well as some other new friends, including Jill Ellis' nephew and Morgan Brian's cousin. Enjoy and hit me up with the comments and feedback.

Morgan's POV  
"Guys I bet you I can chug this entire glass of beer in under 10 seconds"

"Kelley enough it was impressive the first 4 times," Jerry O'Hara reprimands his sister and takes her glass from her hands. Kelley visibly deflates for a few seconds but the alcohol stimulates her emotions again. Today the team decided to go out for a big dinner and bring their families. I brought Eric and my cousin, Blaire who just happens to be the newest addition to the senior national team, Lauren brought Jrue, Alex brought Servando, Sydney brought Dom, Julie brought Zach, and Kelley of course brought her brother, Jerry. Everyone had their loved ones with them. Even Jill brought her nephew, Finn. Eric puts his hand on my shoulder. I turn to him as he whispers into my ear.

"Look," he says and points down the table. I subtly glance a few times across the long table to see Blaire stretching over the back of her seat.

"I'm so full," she says and looks desperately at her ice cream topped triple fudge brownie on her plate.

"Then let me have your brownie now," Finn pleads and eyes her brownie. Blaire slouches back into her chair. "Fine," she says and picks up her spoon and takes a piece of her dessert. She holds it up to Finn's mouth, which opens wide. But instead of putting the spoon in his mouth, she shoves it onto his nose. Blaire giggles as Finn smiles and wipes his face off. I look back at Eric, beaming. He smirks and raises his eyebrows. Ever since the 20 year-olds first met, Blaire and Finn have always had some sort of thing. Everyone on the team knows it too, except for them apparently. Every time I talk to Blaire about it, she insists that he just likes her as a friend, even though she has the biggest crush on him. Julie and I know that he likes her by the way he looks at her. It's obvious. Kling, Press, Tobin, Lauren, and I are currently devising a plan to get them together. 

"We'll take the check," Jill says to the waiter. Soon after everything is paid for we all leave the restaurant and walk down the street to catch some sights of the city. Downtown New York City is beautiful at night. Eric puts his arm around my shoulder and I lean into him as we walk. 

All of a sudden, we hear an explosion behind us, and screams and honks. We all stop and turn around. Men in S.W.A.T uniforms fill the streets and start shooting stuff at people. Not bullets, but darts filled with green liquids. The people who were hit immediately fall to the ground, unconscious. I stand frozen in my spot until I hear Servando yell "Run!" So i run with Eric close behind me. Where to? I have no idea. I've only been to New York City like twice but I'm pretty sure our cars were in the opposite direction. I hear what sounds like a jet and look up into the sky. A huge plane slowly moves across the sky, directly over our heads. Then I see them. More guys in black jump from the plane and onto the ground. I run harder, trying to get away. While we run we see across the street a man in black attacking a family.

"Guys," Eric says from behind me. He stops running. "We can't just leave them," he motions to the family. The Jerry, Serv, Jrue, Zach, Brian, Dave, and Finn all stop running and nod at each other, then at Eric. They kiss their loved ones and whisper words of encouragement to them.

"Eric no please," I say with tears in my eyes as he holds my face in his hands. He smiles sadly.

"We'll catch up with you soon," he says quietly, "I promise." He kisses my forehead and I see him and the guys run to the family. We all watch them beat the guard up and help the family. But all of a sudden, more men in black show up and surround the group. I see Eric step in front of a little girl, protecting her. The men hold up their guns and point at the guys. All I see after that is the dart go into Eric's neck and he collapses. 

"NO," I shout. I immediately run towards him but I feel hands on my shoulders that drag me back.

"Morgan honey we have to keep running," Lauren's voice is shaking as she see's Jrue's lifeless body on the ground. I turn around with her and we run with the rest of the group.

My mind insists that I run while my heart screams for me to stay.


	2. On Our Own

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gals don't have the guys and they need to survive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a longer chapter but some drama yay go drama

Ashlyn's Pov  
I don't know how long we've been running, but we've found ourselves in an empty street in New York. We stop running, and I feel my leg start to ache. For the first time, one of us speaks.

"What the heck is going on?" Christen says and leans onto her knees. We all look around. What IS going on? The street is completely empty, only a few shops and gas stations are up, which gives me an idea.

"Guys, we need food," I say, "We need to raid these stores and get weapons and food anything we need to survive. Let's split into groups so we can get more ground covered. Meet back up in this very spot when you're done."

"What are the groups?" Kelley asks. We discuss the teams for a few minutes before deciding that Group 1 is Hope, Carli, Kelley, Christie, and Alex. Group 2 is Morgan, Blaire, Lauren, Me, and Ali, and Group 3 is Press, Kling, Tobin, Syd, and Julie. Group 1 is going to Wal-mart, Group 2 is going to Trader Joes, and Group 3 is going to 7/Eleven. We all wish each other good luck and split up.

The walk down the road is silent. I walk next to Ali, who walks with an emotionless look plastered on her face. We finally reach Trader Joes and slowly walk inside. It's abandoned. But there are still shelves of food and other items all throughout the store. I lead the group to the school aisle and we all grab backpacks. 

"Alright," Lauren says, "Grab as much as you can hold and meet at the front door in 10 minutes."

"We should split into groups," Morgan suggests.

"Good idea," I say, "Blaire, Morgan, and Lauren, you guys stay together. I'll go with Ali." I look at Ali, who nods and takes my hand. We split up, and go on opposite sides of the store. I grab a lot of bottled water and some first aid supplies. Ali gets bread and meat as well as firewood. I find a couple of crowbars and hand one to Ali.

"This should suffice as a weapon for a while," I say. Before I can turn around, Ali hugs me.

"I'm scared," she says. I hug her back.

"I am too," I say into her shoulder, "But we can get through this. Togeth-"

"BLAIRE," we hear a crashing across the store and screams from the girls. Ali and I bolt across the store to the scene. There's a man on top of Blaire with a knife in his hands.

"What are you doing in my store?" his voice is rough and raspy.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry please don't kill me!" Blaire's dirty blonde hair is covering her face and she's crying.

"Get off of her!" Morgan yells and tries to punch him, but he just elbows her in the ribs and she falls backwards to Lauren's feet. The man takes his knife and scratches it across Blaire's jaw slowly. She screams bloody murder and chokes on her tears. I run towards the man and whack him in the stomach with my crowbar and he recoils falls on the ground next to Blaire. Morgan scrambles up and pulls Blaire out of the way. I kick the guy in the ribs and he howls in pain. I drive the crowbar once more into his jaw and then he goes limp. I brush my hair out of my face and turn around to face the group. Ali is looking at the dead man in horror. Lauren is investigating Blaire's jaw. And Morgan has her cousin in her arms, crying.

"Do we have enough stuff?" I ask them. Lauren jerks her head in the direction of their bags. I check them for food and any weapons. There's plenty of food and a few knives. I pick up the bags and hand one to Lauren, one to Ali, and I carry the other three. I help Morgan and Blaire up. 

"You should let Cap take a look at that," I say to Blaire, who sniffles and nods. We all walk out of the store and down the street. We see Group 1 standing in the middle of the road, some holding baseball bats and the others holding knives. Hope stares coldly around her, seeing if there are any strangers around. She finally spots us and whispers something to Kelley, who turns us. She looks past my shoulder at Blaire and her eyes grow wide. She violently taps Christie's shoulder, who turns to us and see's Blaire. She quickly walks up to us and takes a first aid kit out of her bag.

"What happened?" she asks worriedly.

"We weren't the only ones in that store," Ali says, her voice shaky. I turn to Alex.

"Where's Group 3?" Alex shakes her head and paces back and forth.

"I have no idea, Ashlyn," her voice is dripping with panic, "I hope they're okay. God, I hope they're okay. I've already lost Serv and I can't lose Tobin." I put my hands on her shoulders.

"Listen to me," I look into her eyes, "I'm sure they're okay. Maybe they just got distracted and wanted an ICEE." Alex smiles a little and wipes her eyes. I wrap her in a hug.

"Hey guys!" We all turn around to see Christen, Kling, Tobin, Syd, and Julie walking towards us. They're covered head to toe in blood. Alex runs to Tobin and throws her arms around her.

"I thought you were dead," Alex exhales.

"No," Tobin says, "But I brought you and ICEE." She grins and holds out a huge cup filled with blue and red ice. Alex laughs and takes the cup.

"What the heck happened to you guys?" Hope says and stares at the group. The smile on Tobin's face evaporates and they all look at each other before Kling speaks up.

"Zombies."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no zombies aaaahhh don't forget to hit me up in the comments section with recommendations or concerns. Thank ya and there's gonna be an update reeaaaaally soon :)


	3. I Can't Forget

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is in the guys' POV and what they have to go through.

Finn's POV  
I wake up dazed. My lip hurts and it tastes like blood and my nose is swollen. I try to feel it to see if it's broken, but my hands are cuffed above my hands. As my eyes start to adjust, I get a better look at my surroundings. I'm on the ground, cuffed to a wall. The room is grimy and musty and damp, like in a military base. The lights are dim. I look to my right and I see Eric, who's unconscious with a black eye and a bloody nose. I turn to my left to see Dom with a gash on his cheek but he's awake and staring off into space. 

"Where are we?" I ask. Dom doesn't even look at me when he answers.

"I have no idea," he says quietly, his voice cracking. Suddenly a thought comes to my mind.

"Where's Blaire?" I ask. I violently try to shake off my cuffs or to break free. "Where is she? Is she okay? Where's Morgan? Where are the girls?" Dom shakes his head and shrugs. Suddenly to my right, Eric jerks awake and looks around, confused. It takes him a few seconds to realize that he's cuffed to a wall. His eyes grow wide and he looks at me.

"Where are we?" he asks. I shake my head and he looks down. Suddenly a door busts open and a man in black storms in, waking up anybody else who wasn't already awake.

"Oh good," he says and smile a sickening smile, "You're awake so we can start soon. He rubs his hands together. "Now which one should go first?"

"Let us go!" Brian yells at him. The creepy smile on the man's face disappears. He walks over to Brian and kicks him in the chin. Brian groans as his chin starts to bleed.

"Guess we'll start with you." The smile on the man's face reappears and he unhooks Brian's cuffs and ties his wrists behind his back with zip-ties. The man exits the room with Brian. I lean my head back into the wall and close my eyes. I just want this to be a dream. I want it to be over. I want to see Blaire again.

"Who's next?" My thoughts are interrupted by the man in black walking back in. He walks past Servando, who tries to trip him and kick him. The man recovers and turns to Serv. He plants his boot firmly onto Servando's nose, which starts to slowly trickle with blood. "Look at these volunteers I'm getting," The man grins, "Today must be my lucky day." He unhooks Serv and ties his hands behind him and walks out. Only six of us left. I wonder where he's taking us. I wonder why they took us in the first place. God, I hope the girls are okay.

"Two down, five to go." The man walks back in. He eyes the group like a predator. He walks over to me and I flinch, but he stands in front of Dom instead. "Ding ding ding! We have a winner," The man unhooks Dom and ties his hands. Dom doesn't say anything but just stares into space and walks. They leave and the silence in the room is deafening. Finally Eric speaks.

"Do you think we'll ever see the girls again?" His voice is shaky, like he's ready to cry. Hearing him break down makes tears well up in my own eyes. 

"I don't know," I say. It's so hard to talk, "I guess we just have to have faith." Eric looks at me and nods.

"For I know the plans I have for you," Eric says and looks at me, Zach, Jrue, and Jerry, "Declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you," We all finish the last line together, "Plans for hope and a future,"

"Jeremiah 29:11," Jerry says. Eric nods.

"Morgan made me remember that one whenever we'd do devotions," Eric says and we all laugh lightly.

Once again, the man in black comes in. He doesn't say anything this time, but just automatically unhooks and reties Jerry. They start to walk before Jerry turns his head to us.

"Have faith, boys," He says. Then the man shoves Jerry head forward and orders him not to talk. They leave and then it's just the three of us now. We silently wait for the man to come back, and he does. He decides to take Zach now. Zach gets up and turns to us. He nods before being shoved out the door. And then there were three.

After a few short moments, the man comes back, and he takes Jrue. He remains stiff as he's dragged out of the room, and we don't see him again.

It's silent for a few moments before Eric speaks.

"You love her, don't you?" I'm shocked for a moment at his question but then I think about her. Her. Blaire. I do love her. I always have and I always will.

"Yes," I finally respond. Eric smirks.

"I knew it," he says. Was it really that obvious? I laugh.

"What about Morgan," I say, "You love her, right?" He leans his head against the wall. 

"More than she'll ever know," He responds, "More than the sun, the moon. More than all of the stars. More than the world. More than everything pleasurable in it. I'll never stop loving her." I smile, but before I can say anything else, the man comes back in, whistling to himself. He stands in front of Eric and I. 

"Age before beauty," He says as he leans down and unhooks Eric and ties his hands. Eric slowly gets up and they walk out, and then I am all alone.

All I can do is sit and wait. Wait for the unknown. Probably for death. I'd rather die than be tortured. I'd rather just end it, quick and painless.

I wait for minutes that seem like hours, until he finally comes back in. I don't bother looking up.

"Hey little fella," He says as he unhooks me. I don't say anything. "Not one to talk, eh? Well that's okay. I'm sure you'll be chatting it up tomorrow." He says as we walks me out the door. Tomorrow? So I'm not dying? But dying seems so nice right now. He walks me down a long and dim hallway until we walk into a brightly lit white hospital room. I look around and there are beds with monitors next to them and people lying in bed. I see Eric laying in one of them, unconscious. I see Dom and Serv and Zach and Jerry and Jrue and Brian, all laying in bed asleep. Or at least I hope they are. The man sets me on a bed in the very back of the room next to Eric. He stands next to me until a doctor comes in with a cart that has bottles of liquid and a syringe. Oh God. I hate needles.

"Thank you, Chet," the doctor says. The man nods and leaves. The doctor rolls her cart next to my bed and puts on gloves. She's young, in her early with dark brown hair and brown eyes. "So you're the last patient of this group?" She says, trying to make conversation with me. I don't speak. She nods absentmindedly. "Well my name is Stephanie M." She says. I still don't say anything, but she continues to talk. "I need your first, middle, and last name so that we know what to call you when the medication wears off," She pulls out a clipboard and pen and clicks it.

"Finn Carter Ellis," I say, and she scribbles it down. She puts the clipboard onto her cart and takes a syringe and prepares it with an electric blue liquid. She take a bottle of septic and puts it on a piece of gauze, which she then rubs on my neck.

"Well, Finn, you might feel a slight pinch but if you're too scared you can hold my hand," she smirks and puts her hand on mine. I shift uncomfortably on the bed as she picks up the needle and inserts it into my neck. 

All I can feel is a pinch but within a few seconds I'm quickly slipping out of consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comment if you got who Stephanie M. was ;)


	4. Survive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gals hide away in the woods and camp out, trying to figure out what to do and where to go next.

Blaire's POV  
I help Ashlyn, Hope, Sydney, and Kelley set up the tents. We've found a small clearing in the woods around 8 miles away from the town we just left. We finish setting up the tents, three for housing and one for first aid. Christie calls me into the first aid tent to check on my jaw. I walk in and sit down on a sleeping bag. It feels great to settle down for a while. Christie takes some medicine and puts it on gauze. She directs my jaw closer for inspection.

"How does it feel?" She says as she dabs the wound. It hurts. A lot.

"It really hurts," I tell her. She nods.

"Yeah but this probably going to be the least of the pain," she says as she further inspects my jaw, "I can see bruising start to appear around the area of impact, and a cut like this would normally require stitches but we don't have anything like that so it'll probably scar." I groan. A great big ugly scar across my jaw is just what I need. What will the boys think? Boys. The guys. Finn. 

I shoot out of the sleeping bag. Christie looks surprised for a second at my sudden outburst, but then she stands up and dabs my cut one last time.

"If you wanted to go that badly, you could've just told me," Christie says as I walk out of the tent. The sun is sinking, and I can see the moon start to appear. Everyone is gathered around a small fire and Kelley is cooking something in a pan. I take a seat next to Moe, who is quietly talking to Kling. Morgan notices me and wraps me up in a blanket. She smiles sadly before turning back around to talk to Meghan. Morgan is one of the strongest people I know. She's trying to conceal her pain with that strength. 

Morgan loves Eric. I know she does. Seeing her without him is like seeing a dog without a home. She's trying to carry on, but she doesn't even know if he's alive. She's the one who saw him collapse in the street last night. I can feel her pain.

But I never got the chance to tell Finn I love him. The ache in my heart never dulls when I think about him. I miss his dark hair. I miss his dimples. I miss his smile. I miss his green and kind eyes. I miss his slight Portsmouth accent that he gets from his parents. I miss his laugh. I miss his hugs. I miss him. 

"Ladies," Hope stands up from talking with Ashlyn, "We've survived 24 hours since this apocalypse has started. I believe we can survive for a while longer as long as we know what we're up against." She sits down as Sydney, Christen, Tobin, and Kling stand up.

"Today we saw something," Christen says, "At 7/Eleven, while we were getting supplies, we heard something in the back of the store." Christen stops as Tobin continues.

"At first we thought it was a person," Tobin says, "But then we saw it slowly walk out from the back and there was no way that it was human." Tobin looks down as Sydney speaks up.

"It saw me first, and as soon as I made eye contact with it, it charged at me. Hissing and growling. It was very, very fast. And strong. It pushed all of the counters and shelves out of the way like they were books." Sydney shutters.

"I hit it in the face with a baseball bat before it got to Sydney," Kling says, "And that's how we got all the blood on us." Everyone looks down. I feel like I'm gonna vomit. Meta-human zombies? I can't even fight a guy with a knife.

"We need teams," Ashlyn says, "One team to go on supplies and food runs, one team for first aid, and one team for housekeeping."

"Good idea," Hope says, "Alright who wants to do first aid with Cap?" Alex, Lauren, Julie, and Morgan raise their hands. Hope nods. "Okay what about housekeeping?" Ali, Sydney, Kelley, and Kling raise their hands. Hope nods again. "So that leaves me, Ashlyn, Christen, Tobin, and Blaire." Morgan looks concerned like she's about to say something about me doing the dirty work with the older girls, but she swallows her words.

"So it's settled," Ashlyn says and claps her hands together, "Ladies who are with me, we begin training tomorrow. You need to learn how to fight, so Hope and I will teach you. But for right now, get something to eat and rest. Good job today." Ashlyn smiles as she takes a paper plate and puts what looks like a burger on it. I'm not hungry, so I go to a tent and pull out a sleeping bag and crawl in. I try hard to fall asleep but so many things are racing through my mind. After probably an hour of tossing and turning, Morgan walks in and takes the sleeping bag next to mine. She settles in starts to talk to me.

"How's your jaw?" She asks. I shrug.

"It hurts." I say. I can hear her breathing start to become uneven.

"I should've stopped him," She says with a cracking voice. I sit up.

"No, it's not your fault. That guy was huge." I hear Morgan start to sob.

"I just don't want to lose you," She says in between tears. I get out of my sleeping bag and crawl over to hers. She sits up. "I've already lost Eric. I have no idea where he is I don't even know if he's alive." I wrap my cousin in a hug. 

I don't say anything else, so we just sit there together, not knowing what tomorrow will bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> questions, comments, and concerns are greatly appreciated!


	5. Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guys wake up but things are very different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the brief wait guys, it took me a while to write this chapter since it has some important stuff in it. Enjoy!

Eric's POV  
I wake up in a bright white room. I squint my eyes. Where the heck am I? I look down at myself. Who am I? I look over to the corner of the room to see a young woman with brown hair talking to a young man with darker hair and green eyes in another bed. I'm so confused.

"What the heck is going on?" I say out loud. The woman turns around and looks at me. She says something to the young man and walks over to me.

"Hey there!" She chirps, "It's about time you woke up. I'm Stephanie M. I talked to you about six hours ago, but of course you don't remember that because of the elixir that I gave you. Speaking of which, I have to make sure that it worked. What is your name?" She holds her clipboard and pen, writing something down. I try to answer, but I can't. I don't know it.

"I-I don't know," I stutter. Stephanie smiles and writes something down.

"Sweet! It worked," She says, "So I should probably explain some stuff to you. Approximately six hours ago, you were induced with a special elixir that conceals and removes every past memory you've ever had, but still maintaining the necessary functions needed, like to eat, drink, speak, read, write, etc, and any academic knowledge that you've already recieved. You don't know you're name, however, or where you're from," She flips through some papers on her clipboard, "Aha. Here you are. Eric Bird, no middle name, and you were born in Virginia Beach, Virginia. 22 years old." I mouth my name, getting a feel for it. Not too bad. Virginia Beach doesn't seem like a bad place either. "I'll introduce you to the rest of your group," Stephanie interrupts my thoughts, "That guy over there," She points to an African American man in the center of the room, "His name is Jrue Holiday and he's from Los Angeles, California. He is 25 years old. The guy next to him is Servando Carrasco and he's from Coronado, California. He's 27. The guy next to him is Jerry O'Hara from Peachtree City, Georgia and he's 25. The guy over there is Brian Hollins from Delran Township, New Jersey. He's 31. The guy next to him is Dom Dwyer from Cuckfield, United Kingdom. The guy next to him is Zach Ertz, he's 25 from Orange, California. And the last one is that little cutie over there. His name is Finn Ellis and he's from Portsmouth, United Kingdom. His slight accent makes me melt. Anyways, he's the youngest at 20. And that's your group. I'm your official doctor and yours only, so if there's anything wrong with you, report to me. Why don't you get to know your new/old roommates while I enter your data?" She pats my shoulder and walks out of the room. 

I look around the room at the other guys who in turn look at me.

"Anyone else incredibly confused about their life right now?" Finn is the first to speak. Stephanie was right, he does have a slight accent. Everyone nods. The guy named Dom turns to me.

"So what's your name, where are you from?" He says.

"I'm Eric Bird and I'm from Virginia Beach, Virginia." I say.

"Virginia Beach, gnarly," Jerry says. Before any of us can say anything else, a voice comes over an intercom above our heads.

"Good evening, trainees and employees," The voice says. We all look at each other. Trainees? For what? The voice continues to talk. "Dinner will begin in five minutes and then the first training session afterwards. Thank you." Then the intercom stops. 

"Training?" Servando raises his eyebrows.

"I wonder what's for dinner," Jrue says and looks at his stomach.

"Hamburgers," Stephanie says as she walks back into the room.

"It's funny," Brian says with a confused look on his face, "I know what a hamburger is, but I don't remember ever eating one." We all nod. We sit in silence as Stephanie comes around to each of us checking on wounds that we didn't even know we had. As she gets to me, she checks her watch.

"You guys should probably get going to the mess hall," She says, inspecting my lip and my eye. "It's just down the hall and to the left. You should find it from all the noise. See you guys later!" 

We say goodbye to Stephanie and walk to the mess hall together. She was right. It is loud in here. Men and women gather around each other at the tables, eating and talking. We get our hamburgers and find a place to eat. The only space in the cafeteria is at a table with one girl sitting by herself. We all take a seat around her. She looks up from her chair, terrified for a second before slightly relaxing. I sit next to her and Finn sits on her other side. Moments of silence go by before I decide to break it.

"I'm Eric, Eric Bird," I say to her. Before she can say anything else, Finn introduces himself.

"Finn Ellis."

"Dom Dwyer."

"Zach Ertz."

"Jerry O'Hara."

"Jrue Holiday."

"Servando Carrasco."

"Brian Hollins."

We all introduce ourselves and the girl smiles.

"My name is Danielle Colaprico, but apparently I go by Danny." We spend the rest of dinner talking to Danny. We tried to get to know each other, but we barely even knew about ourselves. Finally the intercom voice comes on again.

"Good evening trainees. Please report to the Training Lobby in five minutes to begin training. Thank you." We all get up and file out of the mess hall. 

We walk to a huge lobby filled with punching bags, medicine balls, and weights and other exercise machines. In the very center of the lobby is a large mat with a light over it. A man walks in front of the group. He eyes us all but for some reason when he finds my eyes he smiles a sinister smile. I look away at Finn, who notices the same thing. Then the man starts talking.

"Good evening, trainees," He says in a raspy voice, "My name is Chet and I'm your training instructor from now until, well, when you're ready." Danny and I exchange looks. Ready for what? Chet continues. "My job is to drastically increase your physical and mental strength. And if that includes torturing you to the point where you wish you were dead, I'll do it." He looks at me and Finn again and smirks.

"So let's get started."

Finn's POV  
They decide to split us into groups by age and gender. Of course I'm the youngest in our group so I go off by myself. There's only a few 20 year old guys. Chet starts talking again.

"Alright, since there's so many groups, each of you will have one trainer. I'll go with..." He looks around at each of the groups, "..The 20 year old males." The guy next to me groans.

"I'm already 100% sure I'm not gonna like this," He says.

"I agree," I tell him.

"The name's Kyle Scott." He says and holds out his hand.

"Finn Ellis," I say and shake his outstretched hand. Chet releases his other trainers to their groups and he walks over to our group. He smiles creepily.

"Let's warm up, shall we?" He says, "85 push-ups. No resting or I'll add another 15." We stand there for a moment, confused and shocked that he would make us do 85 push-ups as a warm up. "Did I stutter?" His eyes turn into anger and we all get onto the ground. After about ten or fifteen my arms start to get tired and I look at Kyle, who's struggling as well. I look across the room to Danny, who's looking at me while she's stretching with a concerned look on her face. I try to keep pushing myself up, but I've only done 25 and I have to do sixty more. One of the guys next to me drops as his arms give out underneath him. Chet notices.

"Another fifteen for you," He says and rolls his eyes.

"I-I can't do anymore sir," The guy says. Chet ignores him.

"What was that? Thirty more? Oh okay sounds good," Chet starts mocking the guy. I've had enough.

"Just leave him alone," I say while I do my best to finish my push-ups. Chet turns away from the guy. I look down but I can feel his cold hard eyes burning a hole through me.

"What did you say?" He says with a cold voice. I keep doing push-ups but my arms could give out at any second.

"You heard me," I say. I hear the room go silent and I feel every eye on me. I see Chet's boots right in front of my face. I expect him to yell at me to do more push-ups but he does something else.

He kicks my nose so hard that I can feel it crack and I can feel blood trickle down my face. I collapse onto my elbows but my knees don't touch the ground.

"If you dare let your knees or stomach touch the ground I will make sure that you don't sleep a wink tonight." Chet says. Then he kicks me again hard in the mouth and I groan but I don't let myself fall. I take a second to recover but then I push myself up on my hands. But as soon as I do, Chet slams his boot on my skull, forcing it to collide with the ground. I swear I almost drop, but I use every ounce of strength I have left to keep my body. I brace myself for the final blow, but instead I hear something collide with Chet's body and he grunts as his body hits the floor. I look up to see Danny on top of Chet and she's punching the snot out of him. Chet gets up quickly and throws Danny off of her. Danny lies on the ground for a second before Chet runs up to her and kicks her in the ribs. Danny groans and clutches her stomach as Chet continues to kick her. I see Eric sprint up to Chet and tackle him to the ground before punching him even more than Danny did. 

Eric stops punching him and then everyone comes to the realization that Chet isn't moving.

Eric beat him unconscious.  
.  
.  
Danny, Eric, and I are taken to Stephanie while everyone else finishes training. We all walk in covered in blood and Eric has a slight limp. Stephanie sees us and immediately starts fussing over us with the "should've been more careful" speech. Stephanie introduces herself to Danny while she cleans her up, but also mentions that it was her who injected her with elixir. She finishes with Danny and gives her pajamas to change into for bed. Danny thanks her and walks out to change. Then Stephanie tends to Eric next, dabbing his black eye and wrapping his leg. She gives him pajamas as well and sends him out to change. Then she gets to me.

"You certainly took a beating," She says as she cleans up my lip.

"What was I supposed to do?" I retaliate, "Chet was bullying that guy."

"And you just had to be the hero," She says.

"Well nobody else would," I say and look down. She tilts my head up to get a better look at the cut above my eyebrow.

"I admire your courage," She says as she cleans up the blood on my nose, "For as long as I can remember, no one has stood up to Chet like that. But if there's one thing I know, Chet will make you completely miserable now since you embarrassed him like that in front of everyone." I groan. "But don't worry," She she looks into my eyes and softly smiles,

"I'll always be here to fix you back up when he does."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a long chapter but this should hold you off until I get another update in. Remember to hit me up with any questions, comments, or concerns!


	6. Allies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the gals survive they find some old friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the lil delay in between chapters. enjoy this one friends.

Ashlyn's POV  
It's Day 15 at camp. We've been surviving pretty well. Ali and her housekeeping team have been planting vegetables at the edge of our clearing. Cap has successfully trained her medical team, and Alex is a natural at giving stitches, which we've been able to do now because of the raids we do with my team. My team is getting better each day. Hope and I train them. Christen is a natural born fighter and good with a machete. Tobin's aim with a rifle is on point and she's not bad when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. Blaire is the one I'm most surprised at. Going into training, I was nervous that she wasn't tough enough to go into the city, especially after everything she's been through. But she showed no signs of weakness during training, even when she had to fight Hope. She also saved out butts from a deranged and drunk store owner on one of our raids. 

I'm in my tent, sharpening a knife and getting ready to go on a raid. Ali walks in and sits on the sleeping bag next to me.

"Going on another raid today?" She asks me. I can just barely hear the concern in her voice. I nod and smile. She returns the smile, but it's a sad one.

"Are you sure? Because we have plenty of vegetables and food already." Ali subtly pleads. I look into her big brown eyes and brush off some of the dirt on her nose from gardening.

"I'll be back. I promise," I tell her. She smiles again and squeezes my hand. I put my forehead to hers before she stands up and walks out.

I exit the tent and gather my team over.

"Alright ladies," I say, "We'll have to travel a little farther to the next city to see if there's anything we can salvage." They all nod and Christen is polishing her machete.

"Blaire," We hear a voice from behind us and Morgan is brushing past people to get to her cousin, "Please stay safe," She says as she hugs Blaire. Blaire hugs her back.

"I will," She says into her shoulder. Ali comes from behind Morgan and hugs me. I hug her back before we break apart. We walk about 8 miles for almost an hour and a half nonstop before we get to the next town over. We find a general store in the middle of the abandoned town. We slowly walk into the large building, our weapons at the ready in case of any surprises. I walk in front, Hope behind me, Blaire behind her, Tobin behind her, and Christen in the back. The shelves are somewhat filled and there's plenty of stuff lying around.

"Okay girls," Hope says quietly, "Split up and get any food, shelter supplies, or medical supplies that would be useful. If anything happens, just yell." We all nod and split up. I head near the back of the store to look for pharmaceuticals and first aid stuff. I find shelves of pills and shove a bunch of them into my bag. I find gauze and stuff that in too. 

I turn around to go to another part of the store before someone body-slams me and knocks me to the ground. My knife leaves my hands and the only thing I have left to defend myself is my body. I can barely see my attacker but I realize that it's in fact a girl, a blonde one. I yell loudly before she punches me in the face. I try and wrestle her off of my but she's strong. 

All of a sudden my attacker gets launched off of my body and I turn to see Blaire on top of her and pinning her down. I get a clear look at the girl's face and my eyes grow wide. Blaire Brian has Kristie Mewis pinned onto the ground. I don't think Blaire realizes who her victim is because she's beating her senseless.

"Blaire wait get off-" I start but then another person comes around the corner of the shelf and pile-drives Blaire off of Kristie. I hastily crawl over to Kristie who's still lying on the ground and covered in blood.

"Kristie?" I say. She looks at me and her eyes grow wide.

"Oh my God Ashlyn," Kristie says and scrambles up, "I had no idea that was you I though you were some greasy robber." I help her stand up and we look at the other two girls fighting.

"Who's that attacking Blaire Brian?" I ask her. Kristie's eyes grow wide again.

"That's Blaire Brian?" She asks me. I nod. Kristie races over to the fighting girls and pulls the one on top off of the girl on the bottom.

"Emily," Kristie says to the still fidgeting girl, "Emily that's Blaire. Blaire Brian." The girl stops fidgeting and her bloody mouth drops open as I pull up a bloody and battered Blaire from the ground. Emily sprints to Blaire and hugs her.

"Emily Sonnett?" Blaire sighs of relief and hugs the other blonde. I turn to Kristie. 

"Where's Sam?" I ask. Kristie looks around.

"She should be around her somewhere," She says. As soon as the words leave her mouth a scream echoes from the other side of the store. "Found her," She says and we all run to the scene.

Christen is on top of Sam Mewis, who looks like she tried to attack Christen.

"Christen that's Sam Mewis!" Blaire says. Christen looks up at us, and then back at Sam, who's face is covered in blood, and she scrambles off of her before helping her up. We all look at each other, most of us caked in blood.

"What are you guys doing here?" Emily asks us.

"Getting supplies for our camp," I say. A few seconds later, Hope and Tobin bolt into our aisle from around the corner, both of their weapons drawn. I hold my hand up at them to motion for them to stand down. I turn back to Kristie. "Who else are you with?"

"A girl named-" She is interrupted by another person running into our aisle. She has dirty blonde hair and light gray eyes.

"Allie Long," Tobin says from behind us. I turn around to see small tears in her eyes but a big smile on her face. She runs up to Allie and hugs her.

"Hey Tobs," Allie says and smiles. 

"What a reunion!" Emily says and puts her arm around Blaire. She looks at her and her smile fades. "Your cousin is going to kill me," She says as she examines Blaire's bloody face. I pick up my bag of supplies.

"How bout you guys come back to our camp with us," I suggest, "We have a greater chance of survival with more of us." Kristie thinks about it for a second before nodding. "Do you guys have any supplies that you want to take?" Sam looks around before answering.

"Just this store," She answers. I nod.

"Grab everything that we might need sometime and meet in the front of the store in ten," Hope says. We all split up again and fill our bags with supplies. Soon we all meet up at the front of the store. Blaire's bag is spilling with fuzzy blankets and pillows, Hope has weapons, and Tobin and Allie have candy. Emily walks up to us wearing a snap-back on backwards.

"Yo lil' Brian I got you a snap-back," She says and puts a hat on her head.

"Aw man I want one!" Tobin says. Emily takes another one out of her bag and hands it to Tobin.

"I snagged like four of them so," She says. We wait for the rest of the group to meet up and then we leave. On the way back we make a quick pit-stop a 7/Eleven to get SlimJims, cheese puffs, powdered donuts, honey-buns, and ICEE's. My heart is a little lighter on the way home. We've reunited with some old friends and nobody was severely hurt. Emily has her arm around Blaire, Tobin is on Allie's back sipping on an ICEE, and the Mewis sisters are conversing among themselves about seeing Sydney again.

I see the camp a little bit away. Morgan spots us first and runs up, a look of horror on her face as she see's Blaire and all the bruise and cuts and dried blood on her face. She examines her face, not even paying attention to the rest of us.

"I am going to KILL whoever did this to you," Morgan says. I look at Emily, who turns ghostly pale.

"Okay I can explain," Emily starts from behind Blaire. Morgan only then notices her, and her eyes grow wide and her look of horror turns into excitement and she flings her arms around Emily's neck.

"I've missed you so much," Morgan says into her shoulder. 

"I've missed you to, Morgan," Emily says back. Morgan's eyes fall upon the rest of the group.

"The Mewis sisters?" She asks and hugs Sam and Kristie. "Isn't that Allie Long?" She asks and points to the girl carrying Tobin. Suddenly there's a clatter and shuffling in one of the tents and Alex and Syd scramble out to see their old best friends. Alex sprints to Tobin and Allie, who laugh and give her an ICEE. Syd automatically darts to the Mewis sisters and starts bawling her eyes out. Then I see Ali come out of the tent, confused by all the commotion. She see's me and walks over to hug me.

"Thank God you guys are alright." She whispers. I hug her back before I reach into my bag and pull out a box of powdered donuts. She laughs and takes them from me. Then she drags me by my hand to one of the tents.

Blaire's POV  
Moe, Emily, and I sit on the floor of the tent by a lantern, eating Ramen noodles while Moe cleans up our faces. Emily is animatedly reenacting the whole story of the fight at the store as Morgan desperately tries to wipe the blood off of her chin.

"Emily, honey, I'm gonna need you to shut up for one second while I try to clean you up," Morgan says and grabs Emily's face to wipe it down as quickly as possible. 

"She used to clean me up all the time," Emily tells me as Morgan finishes with her and moves on to me, "Whenever I'd climb the bug trees in Charlottesville but I'd get too high and whenever I'd come down I would fall and scrape myself up. I'd come home and Morgan would give me Spongebob band-aids as Danny would laugh her butt off telling Morgan how funny it was to see me fall." I noticed how the twinkle in her eyes disappeared when she said "Danny." Morgan slowly removes the rag from my face and turns to Emily.

"Emily," Morgan says slowly, "Where's Danny?" Emily looks at the ground and I see tears start to form in her eyes. Morgan crawls over to her and puts her arm around her. Emily inhales a shaky breath and starts to talk.

"We were walking around D.C," She starts, "And we saw a huge jet over the sky and these guys dressed in all black started coming from it. At first we didn't know what was going on but then they started shooting people so we ran. We ran until we saw one of those guys strangling a small child while his mother was lying on the ground. Before I could stop her, Danny was already sprinting towards the guy and she body slammed him onto the pavement. She got up and told the kid to run. While she was walking back to me I saw the guy get up and-" She swallows hard, "-And before I could even yell out her name he stabbed her in the neck with a syringe filled with a green liquid. And then I ran. I ran faster and longer than I ever could." She finishes as a single tear falls from her left eye. Emily leans into Morgan's shoulder. Moe rests her chin on Emily's head and I can see tears start to fall from her face as well.

"I'm so so so sorry," Emily says in between sobs. Morgan rocks back and forth, comforting her.

"Sshhh shhh it's okay," Morgan says,

"I'm just glad I didn't lose you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> brb sobbing at the last part


	7. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flash forward four months. The guys + Danny find a secret about the facility they're staying at.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry I took forever and a day to update I had no idea what I was doing. But enjoy this while I get the next chapter rolling.

Finn's POV  
We've been at this facility for almost four months now, according to Stephanie. Four months of familiar but unfamiliar food, four months of torture from Chet, four months of nights spent getting cleaned up by Stephanie, four months of Danny's jokes. Even though Chet spends every training making sure I can't walk the next day, I'm actually getting a lot better. I'm three pounds of pure muscle heavier, Stephanie says. I can throw knives like a natural, and I'm a beast at hand to hand combat. The only thing I've been wondering recently is why we'd need to know this stuff anyways. A lot of weird things have been happening, too. About a month ago, a bunch of the guys who've been exceeding everyone else in training just disappeared, and we haven't seen them since. 

Today is our once a week day off, so we're just hanging out in our room. Danny and Eric, who have become good friends over the past four months, are playing cards on Eric's bed. I'm lying on my own bed, still nursing a sore leg and talking to Jrue, Serv, Jerry, and Stephanie. 

"Chet really needs to take it easy on you," Stephanie says as she puts ice under my calf, "I mean seriously, it's been four months." I laugh. 

"Like that'll happen," I say as she takes a seat next to me.

"You've got to be KIDDING me," We hear Eric say from across the room. We all look over to see Danny celebrating and Eric looking frustrated at a deck of cards in front of him. Ever since Stephanie taught them how to play War, Eric and Danny have been constantly sitting in the corner of the room playing each other.

"I've created monsters," Stephanie says from next to me.

"C'mon guys," Serv says to them, "We should do something together." Eric and Danny walk over to our bed.

"Like what?" Danny asks.

"Lets explore," Jerry says. 

"I'm down," Serv says. We all agree.

"Okay just don't get hurt because I'm taking a nap," Stephanie says and rolls around on the bed. We all get up and walk out. We take a right and walk down a long hallway. Then another right. Then a left. Then a right. We come across so many twists and turns that I'm pretty sure we're lost now. We haven't really gotten a chance to explore the facility since we woke up, because the only rooms we'd ever go to are the cafeteria, our rooms, and the training room.

"Hey guys," Zach says, "Isn't it weird how there aren't any windows or doors in here?" We all stop in our tracks. He's right. I've never seen a glimpse of sunlight ever, although I know what it is, like it's from a picture or an old and fading memory.

"Yeah," Dom says, "And why are we in this place at all? What are we doing here?" 

Before any of us could agree, we hear screaming from a few halls down. We fast walk to where we hear it, but slow down right before we get to the doorway. Eric leads the way, holding up a hand signaling us to stop as he slowly approaches the room. He peeks inside before jerking his head back out.

"Oh my God," He says as he leans his head against the wall with wide eyes. I stealthily walk up next to him to see what he saw. Inside the room, there's a guy sitting in a chair, his hands and feet strapped to the arm and legs of the chair. I can see why. The man doesn't even look human. His face is green and decaying and his eyes are bluish gray all over, like a film over his pupils. He tenses up at everything, jerking his head as he looks around the room. Suddenly her starts growling and biting his teeth and he violently throws himself around in the chair trying to break free. Danny slides herself next to me, trying to look inside and she does.

"What the heck is that?" She says.

"I don't know," I say. Then Danny looks up at me, confused.

"I didn't say anything," She says. Now its my turn to look confused.

"Yeah you did," I say, "You just said 'What the heck is that?' I heard you. Didn't you guys hear it?" I turn to the guys. The all shake their heads at me, looking confused. I brush it off, thinking that I probably was just imagining things and I turn back to the room.

A few doctors rush up to the monster, and they're accompanied by two guys in black. I can recognize one of them as Chet and I feel my blood start to boil. Chet undoes the straps on the chair and yanks the monster up. The monster convulses, trying to get out of Chet's grip. Chet just holds his grip on it, while a doctor presses a few buttons on the wall and it opens up to reveal a bright light. I take a second for my eyes to adjust, and I realize that that the light is daylight. And it's beautiful. They take the monster and throw it out into the sunlight. It turns around and hisses before sprinting off into the forest behind it. The doctors close the doors and Chet exits from view.

"Was that sunlight?" Danny says.

"Yeah," I say, "I think it was." Danny turns to me with a confused look on her face again.

"Finn," She says, "I didn't say anything." This is weird. I just heard her. It was her voice.

"Yes you did," I respond. "Is this a joke? Are you messing with me? You guys heard that, right?" The guys shake their heads and exchanged concerned looks.

Suddenly I hear voices. The guys all talking at once. I look up at them to tell them to stop talking so loud, but I see that their lips aren't moving.

"What's wrong with him"

"Is he okay"

"This is weird"

"What's he doing"

"Danny didn't even say anything"

I press my hands to my ears, trying to make the voices stop. They won't stop. They keep going, getting louder and louder. I close my eyes, lean against the wall and sink to the ground.

"Finn," Danny says. I don't even know if she said it. I don't know whats going on. "Finn are you okay?" I open my eyes. Danny has her arm on my shoulder, looking concerned. "Finn can you hear me?" Her lips are moving this time.

"Take me to Stephanie," I say to her.  
......  
"It's about time he started showing signs," Stephanie says. Eric, Danny, and I exchange glances.

"Excuse me," I say, "Showing signs? Signs of what?" Stephanie just pours a glass of water and shrugs.

"When you were brought here and I vaccinated you with the stuff that cleared your memory," She says and hands me the cup, "I spiked it." My eyes widen.

"Spiked it?" I ask. She nods.

"Oh yeah," She says nonchalantly, "I put different sorts of chemicals that reacted with nerves in the brain, unlocking certain chambers of your mind that no one knows about, and giving you special powers." She hurries over to her clipboard. "And judging by the explanation that you gave me," She says and flips through some papers, "The chemicals reacted with the communication center in your brain. You can read minds. And to some extent, in the future, you'll even be able to communicate to people with your mind."

I shake my head, unable to comprehend the information just given to me. Read minds? Know what people are thinking? That's impossible.

"Why would you spike his elixir," Eric says. Stephanie turns to him.

"Same reason why I spiked yours," She says, "And Danny's, and Jerry's, and Zach's, and Brian's, and Servando's, and Jrue's, and Dom's." Eric and Danny's jaws drop simultaneously. She just completely altered the way our brain works, and she's not batting an eyelash.

"Wait wait wait wait," Danny says and shakes her head, "If he can read minds, then what do we have?" Stephanie shrugs.

"I don't know," She says, "But if you start seeing signs of any unusual brain activity, find me and tell me immediately so I can try and diagnose you." We can just stand there, awestruck.

"Now if you'll excuse me," Stephanie says and places her clipboard on the night stand,

"I don't want to be late for dinner."


	8. Danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gals run into some unwanted guests.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it took me like three years to update oops but here

Moe's POV  
Emily and Blaire take turns braiding each other's hair before going out on another run with the group. I bring them each paper plates of toaster waffles that Kelley cooked. Emily takes hers and eats as Blaire finishes a simple but elegant braid on Emily's head. Blaire's hair is already braided into a messy French braid. She stares into space, blue eyes seeping with curiosity. Despite the lazy and tired look, she's beautiful. She's always had a knack for doing that. I'm sure if Finn was here he'd let her know that. 

As soon as they finish eating, Ashlyn walks into the tent.

"Alright girls," She says to Emily and Blaire, "We're leaving in five minutes." Blaire and Emily nod and Ashlyn leaves the tent. Blaire gets up and gives me a hug.

"I'll see you in a few hours," She says to me and smiles, "I promise." I nod and smile and hug her one last time before she exits the tent. Emily stands up and walks over to me.

"Please keep her safe," I tell her, "And stay safe yourself. I don't know what I'd do if I lost both of you." Emily hugs me and smiles.

"Yes ma'am!" She says and salutes with her usual childish grin. 

She leaves the tent as well and then I'm all alone.

Emily's POV  
We set off at around 9:00. Ashlyn, Kristie, and Hope are walking in the front of the group, pointing at different locations on a map. I walk in the back next to Blaire and Sam with Allie, Tobin, and Christen right in front of us.

We've been walking for around an hour and half, almost halfway to the town, according to Ashlyn. We stop for a few minutes to rest before walking again. I take a seat next to Blaire on the edge of the road. I take a granola bar out of my backpack. Before I unwrap it, I hear rustling in the woods behind me. I turn around really fast and stand up. Blaire looks up at me, confused at my sudden movement. 

"Wha-"

"Shh." I silence Blaire and look into the woods. Christen catches on and slowly pulls out her machetes. Everyone has gone quiet and listening intensely for any movement. Moments go by and we hear nothing.

"See there's nothi-" Blaire is suddenly cut off by a figure bursting from the woods and charging at her, tackling her against the pavement. None of us have any time to react as the figure pins her down and starts snarling at her and clamping it's jaws. I sprint at the figure and shove it off of Blaire. It rolls across the road, but recovers and looks up. I see it's face and I realize that it's not human.

"What the heck is that?" Sam says as Kristie helps Blaire up.

"Zombie," Christen says as she takes her machetes and sprints towards the monster. The zombie snarls and gets up. Christen doesn't falter as she raises her weapons and chops the zombie's head clean off. The head tumbles down as the body slumps over and falls. Blaire shakily stands up, holding on to Kristie for support and not taking her bewildered and frightened eyes off of the corpse lying in the road. I run up to and check her for any injuries.

"Are you okay," I ask and brush dirt off of her, "Are you hurt, did that thing bite you?" I notice blood trickling down her face from her temple. "What happened here?" I ask.

"I just hit my head on the pavement when that thing tackled me," Blaire answers, "I'm fine, really." I relax and pull her into a hug.

"We need to keep moving," Hope says, "And keep your weapons ready and your eyes peeled just in case one of those things come out of no where again." We all pick our things up and continue walking. 

We're able to make it to the town with no more zombie interruptions, thankfully. We head into the nearest store. We want to spend as little time here as possible. We quickly spread out and run around the store looking for supplies. I run to the back to see if I can find anything useful.

As I turn the corner of a shelf I feel a cold hand cover my mouth and I'm yanked against a wall. I try to kick my legs up and I'm thrashing around but the force on me is so strong that I'm pretty sure I'm not doing anything. I finally get a look at my attacker. He's a grimy and sweaty middle aged man, and he REEKS of alcohol. He slams his foot onto mine, preventing me from moving, and causing me to wince and groan in pain into his cold and sweaty hand.

"You even THINK about doing anything," His voice is gravelly and his breath smells terrible, "I'll kill you right here." He points to a knife in his pocket with his free hand. He then moves it to his pants and I close my eyes as I hear him unzip his pants. Tears start to well up in my eyes. Not here, God not here. Not with this scumbag.

"Let her go," I hear a voice a few yards in front of me and I open my eyes to see Kristie holding a pistol and pointing it straight at the guy's head. The man turns around and swiftly pulls his knife back out, holding it against my throat.

"Come any closer and I'll slit her throat," He says and pushes it against my neck to the point where I swear it broke skin.

"Try anything and this first round is going right into your left eye socket," Kristie says, tightening her grip on the gun, "Now I'm gonna tell you one more time, let her go." The man slowly releases the knife of my throat but my eyes fall onto his right hand which is slowly wrapping itself around a gun in his pocket.

"KRIST-" I yell, but then there's a bang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooooooo cliffhanger


	9. Mental

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny and the rest of the guys figure out what powers they have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHA SORRY ITS BEEN LIKE EIGHT MONTHS SINCE I LAST UPDATED I DIDN'T THINK ANYONE WAS STILL READING SO HERE'S A SHORT CHAPTER BUT I WILL UPDATE AGAIN I PROMISE

Danny's POV  
Ever since Finn unlocked his powers, all of us have been on edge. At any moment in time we could unleash some force of our mind unexpectedly.

Finn seems the most on edge out of all of us. He spends almost all of his time with Stephanie, trying to get help on making his voices quieter or silence them completely. He's scared that he'll hear things he doesn't want to hear. I haven't had an actual conversation with him since his discovery. I just want him to be alright.

Eric, Jrue, Zach, Jerry, Dom, Serv, and I sit together at dinner when it happens. We were casually eating our food, as usual, when I hear a voice that sets my teeth on edge,

"You always been this hot, Colaprico?" I hear Chet sneer with his buddies snickering behind him.

"You always been this arrogant, Chet?" I say back, without even turning around.

"Awww c'mon babe," He coos, "How 'bout you come back to my room and I'll show you something we all know you've never seen before." His buddies laugh and pat his back. Now I turn around.

"I think I'd rather be shot. In the neck. From close range." I say, batting my eyelashes. I turn back around in my seat to see the guys trying very hard to suppress their laughter.

"Suit yourself," I hear Chet mumble and before Eric can shout "D-" I feel time freeze to a standstill and I turn around to see Chet with a gun pointed at my neck. Chet is frozen and I look around to see everyone else is frozen, even Dom's spilt apple juice. I take Chet's gun away from him and point it at his crotch. Time speeds back up and Chet fumbles his hands like something disappeared from them while Eric shouts "-anny!"

Chet looks around to figure out where his gun went before his eyes fall upon he barrel pointed at his package. His eyes grow wide as he puts his hands up.

"Don't shoot please don't shoot," He manages to squeak out. I smirk and unload the pistol before handing him his gun back. His hands shake as he grasps the gun.

"Let's get out of here," He says to his friends, not breaking eye contact with me. The smirk doesn't leave my face as I turn back around to finish eating. After a few moments of finishing my fries, I realize that all of the guys are staring at me. I look up and smile innocently.

"What. Was. That?" Jrue says with his mouth wide open. I shift uncomfortably in my seat.

"What was what?" I say quietly.

"You mean you didn't catch the part where you disarmed Chet before you even saw the gun pointed at your neck?" Jerry says.

"Well I was able to sense it because of this weird tingly sensation that told me there was dang-" I stop before I finish my sentence. My eyes go wide and my jaw drops.

"We gotta go see Stephanie."  
....  
"So you're saying that you knew it was gonna happen before it even happened?" Stephanie writes some stuff down on her clipboard after I nod. "Hmmm, then that could only be one of two things: Precognition, or Cosmic Awareness." She catches the confused look on my face so she continues. "There's a slight difference in the two. Precognition pertains to knowing the future or having visions of people all around you, like fortune telling. Cosmic awareness only pertains to YOU and in a matter of moments before something happens to you. You can sense danger to yourself an instant before it happens so you can defend and protect yourself. Now tell me, have you had any visions or dreams of this event happening?" 

"No, can't say that I have."

"Excellent!" Stephanie jots another thing down on her clipboard. "Then Danny, your power is Cosmic Awareness."

....  
Before bed that night, Stephanie asks me to see her in her room. 

"Hey Danny," She says, "So I think you should know a little bit more about this power of yours." I nod so she continues. "The thing is that scientists basically call it the 'Paranoia Power' because a power like that makes the brain on edge and jumpy ALL the time. Cells in your brain move around aggressively at a constant rate so that you're able to sense things seconds before they happen." I nod, taking it all in. She keeps going. "With that said, this constant paranoia will most likely drive you insane." My eyes widen. 

"No, that can't be" I tell her.

"It actually will," She says, "It's inevitable. I've done tests over and over again and the facts stay the same. There's a 100% chance you will lose your mental stability by the time of your death. I'm sorry." I shake my head as she pats my back.

"So there's no way I can avoid this?" I say. She hesitates.

"Not that I know of, at least." She starts, "There could be some way, but it's impossible for me to find out." 

I swallow hard and leave the room without saying another word.  
\------


	10. Let Her Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gals come back to an unsettling surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't hate me pls. also, i apologize if this is kinda short, but it's also kinda beautiful. lemme know whatcha think. i'm also on tumblr @moecontrol if you have requests, questions, or ideas, i'd love to hear them. thank ya!

Emily's POV  
As soon as the gun goes off I shove that creep off of me and Kristie and I bolt out of there. The others notice and follow us out as soon as they grab what they need. We walk down the road for around an hour and a half before we hear a screech from behind us. We turn around to see a zombie standing about twelve yards away. We all freeze, hoping he'll forget about us. Instead, he stares at us and starts sprinting in our direction. He would've run right into Allie if Christen didn't slice his head off with one of her machetes. The head and body tumble to the ground and become limp. All of us breathe a sigh of relief.

"Honestly guys," Tobin speaks, "Where would we be without Christen?"

I see Christen smile but she lowers her head, from what I can tell, trying to hide a blush.

Ashlyn's POV  
An hour later, with no more encounters with zombies, we arrive back at the camp. I immediately look for Ali, just to make sure she's safe. I see Syd with Alex, but still no Ali. I walk up to them.

"Hey Syd," I tap her shoulder, "Have you seen Ali?" Syd looks up like she's trying to remember something.

"Oh yeah," She says suddenly, "She went into the woods about an hour ago to get some water. She hasn't been back since." 

As soon as the left sentence left her mouth she realizes what's going on. I don't even give her time to say anything before I'm running into the woods looking for Ali.  
\----  
I've been roaming around for an hour and a half looking for Ali.

"Ali...Ali...Ali." My voice is hoarse and almost gone from screaming out her name. Suddenly, I see a clearing ahead and I catch a glimpse of dark brown on the soft grass by the river. I immediately breathe a sigh of relief.

"Jesus Christ, Ali," I mutter to myself, "Taking a nap on the job, tsk tsk." I enter the clearing by the river.

My heart drops into my stomach as I drop to my knees. Ali isn't napping. She's dead.  
\-----  
Ali is dead. She has a bullet to her head, and one to her heart. What's even worse is that she was clearly taken advantage of, the only clothing she had on was her shirt, stained with her blood. I shake as I crawl over to her lifeless body. How could someone so full of life and warmth and love and goodness, be taken so quickly and easily?

"Who did this to you, sweetheart," I say through tears, as if expecting an answer, "Who did this to you?" I slowly pick her up around her waist and hold her in my arms. She's limp and cold, something I'd never thought she'd be. I sit on my knees, just holding Ali and crying softly into her neck. 

After an hour, when I'm sure that I can't cry any more tears, I stand up and carry Ali back to camp. 

At first, no one notices that we arrive. They bustle around the camp, getting things done. Then Christen sees me. Her eyes light up for a split second, and then she sees Ali. Dead. Her face falls into a look of horror, and she starts to scream. The rest of the camp notices and turns their attention towards me, towards us. Everyone runs to us.

"What the hell happened?" Alex asked.

"Is she dead?" Sam asked.

"She can't be dead. I don't believe it." Tobin said.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Pinoe said.

Everyone is in a twisted mess of emotions. Most are crying, some are carrying straight, emotionless faces. I can't take it anymore. I hand Ali to the nearest person, which happened to be Christen, and run into my tent. I collapse into my cot, and burst into tears once more. I look at my hands, and they are covered with Ali's blood. Before I can stop myself, I vomit. I feel sick to my stomach, so I just throw up everywhere. 

I hear the tent open up behind me and I turn around to see Alex, tears in her eyes. She walks towards me and sits next to me on the bed. She rubs my back softly as I cry on her shoulder.

"I-I never-" I choke on tears as I try to speak, "I never got to tell her I love her."  
\---------  
Ali's funeral was simple, because I knew that's how she would've wanted it. Nothing fancy, just a small gathering of the people she loved and the time for them to mourn. We buried in a small clearing in the woods, where the sunlight breaches the trees. It's a good place, to remind us that Ali was the sunlight breaking through all of our problems and bad times. The ceremony itself was relatively short, everyone was solemn as they each dropped a single flower at her grave. Each shared a word with themselves and Ali, until I was the very last one standing over the grave.

I crouched down to sit criss-cross next on the earth where Ali lay. I twiddled with the white rose in my hand and looked up. It was a beautiful day, as if when Ali died, the flowers and trees and the sun took her and she became the day. Her presence was in the warmth of the sunlight on my face and hands, in the softness of the grass beneath me, in the beauty of the rose I hold and every other flower her friends laid upon her grave.

"You know," I said to the air, "The white rose in flower language means 'I am worthy of you.'" I talk casually, as if carrying on a normal conversation with her, and in some ways I am. "It's kinda funny because I would've never thought of myself as worthy of you, Ali. Nothing about me screamed worthy of your beauty, your smile, your eyes, your kindness, your generosity. You. Yet you still somehow put up with me through all these years." I chuckle, and a soft breeze tugs at my hair and face, as if Ali is laughing along with me. 

"But you still had faith in me, you still believed in me. You were always there for me. Even when I wasn't there for you. And I'm sorry I wasn't there for you all time." I exhale a shaky sigh before continuing. "But you still taught me that you don't need to be perfect for someone to care about you. That's why you cared about me, because I'm not perfect. When I didn't find myself worthy of anything, you did. You showed me that I am, in fact, worthy of you." I set the white rose gently and carefully on her grave, along with the other flowers.

"You made life so much better for me. I never knew anyone who made me laugh so hard or my smile so wide. When everything was crazy, all I needed was to look into those brown eyes, and I was safe. I wanted the best for you, like you wanted for me. Every time I close my eyes, I see you. Like you're waiting for me to come back to you when the world gets tough. I close my eyes, and I see you, and I'm home. I get this feeling every time someone mentions your name, I can't describe it. It's a beautiful feeling, like I have butterflies in my stomach and all I want is to be with you. I think of you and I smile. It's weird. I guess that what I'm trying to say is- I love you."

I breathe the last three words so softly that I can barely even hear them. I finally told her, like I should've a long time ago.

Suddenly, a breeze, slightly fiercer than the one before, blows across my face. With it are petals from the flowers of nearby trees. I take it all in and smile. I know what Ali is trying to say:

"I love you too."


End file.
